Love Isn't Always Easy
by OncerScarletQueen
Summary: Set in season 4 of the main show. Anastasia and Will are once again separated and Will has learned that Storybrooke isn't such a bad place to live especially with good company, but life can change in an instant.
1. Chapter 1

The queen of Wonderland hadn't seen her true love in weeks, but she couldn't really blame that all on him. After Cyrus and Alice's wedding, Anastasia and Will returned to Wonderland, to the castle and for a while things were perfect. The queen paced the castle floor as her mind went back to what happened with Will before he went back to Storybrooke. She remembered how when they arrived at the castle, the home they would now share together, they didn't want to be apart.

After Ana almost lost Will forever due to her leaving him for the king and then Will almost lose her in turn from Jafar's blade, it only made sense that they took advantage of the time they had together at last...but perhaps things moved too fast after all that happened. First they started fighting over little things; Will hogging the covers in bed, Will interrupting a meeting with the townspeople who visited the castle to share their concerns, Will chewing too loudly at the breakfast table.

Now that she really thought about it she had nagged him probably a little too much and after weeks of being without him she was able to really get a look at herself. She was no longer the Red Queen, that part of her was dead, but that didn't mean she wasn't still without fault.

Being queen was nice, she had everything she could possibly want, but she had taken it for granted and even Will was starting to see that. She wasn't evil anymore per say but she still had an arrogance and pride about her that wasn't always flattering and in the end Will had enough and left, he couldn't bare to see her turn into the worst version of herself again.

"..And then I said, 'A cuppa tea, why not just pour the whole pot on me then?'" A gang of laughter broke Ana of her thoughts and she looked over at the table in the middle of the room where a group of Wonderland residents were sitting, laughing at the nonsense that were the March Hare's words.

Now that she really looked at them it was strange to see her servant, Tweedledum, the white rabbit, Cheshire cat, the Caterpillar and of course the March Hare sitting around a table having tea and sweets in her castle, but then again it was Wonderland.

Ana rolled her eyes some at the Hare's next words and walked over to the table, "I'm glad to see my little tea party is making you all feel at home," she said, trying to avoid any sarcasm in her tone.

It wasn't as if she didn't mean it, she was glad she could bring those together that she made life hard for in the past, but without Will it just wasn't the same.

"Why don't you sit down and join us?" Tweedle asked as he looked up at his queen, not noticing the hesitant looks from the others.

Ana looked around at them all, she however had noticed their expressions and looked away some, "I'm not very hungry," she said truthfully, "but please, all of you enjoy yourselves." She turned and started to walk away, she wasn't in a partying mood.

Tweedle tilted his head in concern and stood to follow her, "Are you alright? You haven't had very good appetite in the past few days," he pointed out. Ana continued walking, but with every step she took she felt worse. Her stomach churned and she finally had to stop and take a deep breath as an intense wave of nausea came over her.

"Your majesty?" Tweedle said with concern as he looked her over.

"I'm fine.." but she made a mistake by opening her mouth and walked quickly out of the room, a hand on her mouth as she took only a few strides to get to the downstairs bathroom, thankfully she ordered one to be made on the main floor.

Tweedle looked down with worry but stayed where he was, knowing better than to follow her to the bathroom. About ten minutes went by before Ana walked back to where Tweedle was waiting for her, pale as a ghost.

"You don't look well," he told her, "perhaps we should get the rabbit's wife to look you over."

Ana shook her head, looking as if a realization hit her, "It's not necessary, I know what's wrong with me." She went to one of her wall mirrors that lined several of the castle's rooms and started to fix her hair, which she usually wore down now, and pinch her cheeks in an effort to bring her color back.

Tweedle watched her with a curious frown, "Your majesty?"

Ana turned to him, "I'm pregnant," she answered him softly.

Tweedle obviously hadn't expected that answer by the look on his face, but once the shock were off he smiled at her, "Congratulations," he then remembered Will was gone and his smile faded. Ana wasn't smiling and in fact seemed to read his mind that the father of the child wasn't even there to share in the news.

"I wasn't sure at first, I suppose I ignored the first signs but I can't ignore it any longer," Ana said as she looked up at her servant who had grown more to her than just that, she could honestly call him a trusted friend. Tweedle gave her an encouraging but small smile as he reached out and touched her shoulder, grasping it gently as if to show he was there for her, "You should find him and tell him." "He's been gone for weeks, he could be anywhere," Ana replied with a hopeless kind of tone.

"Perhaps I can help with that," a voice behind Tweedle said and both looked to see the white rabbit walk in.

"Sorry to intrude," he continued almost nervously, "but I couldn't help overhear, the ears and all." Ana gave a raised eyebrown and slight smirk, almost amused that that was his excuse every time.

"You know where Will is," Ana said more as a statement than a question, "and you'd help me find him?"

"Well I did help him leave," Percy, as he's less known, replied as he looked down slightly, "he told me not to say where."

Ana could tell that he looked as if he were fighting with his morals on whether to betray Will's trust or not so she kneeled down in front of him to talk to him on his level. She knew in the past she had done Percy wrong many times and she hadn't quite made up for it all yet so the least she could do was talk to him as if he were an equal.

"Please," Ana looked at the rabbit in the eyes, "help me get to him and I'll give you whatever you'd like."

Percy sighed, he couldn't say no to the look she gave him, "Alright alright, I'll help you and you don't owe me anything," he tilted his head to the side some as he looked back at her, "you have enough to worry about right now."

Ana smiled at him, "Thank you."

She stood and looked over at Tweedle, "Do you mind handling things here while I'm gone?" "It would be my honor," he told her with a smile. Ana returned the smile before making her way up the stairs to her bedroom to get ready to leave.

Once Ana was out of the room Percy looked down, his ears drooping slightly. He hadn't told any of them that he had went to Storybrooke a few days ago on a mission to actually find Will and convince him to go back to Wonderland, but upon arriving there, and keeping well out of sight, he had spotted the thief kissing a dark haired woman. He was so surprised and confused that he hadn't even mentioned it to his wife and now he had agreed to take Ana into what could be an upsetting situation.

If only he would learn to mind his own business.


	2. Chapter 2

"..And so really the story is about how two people can find each other even when.." Belle was saying as she looked down at the opened book on her lap, but stopped when she looked up at the man sitting beside her on the park bench who had his arm around her shoulders. "Will?" she said when she noticed he was staring off into space, clearly not paying attention.

"Hm? Yeah," he replied when he looked over at her. "Are you okay?" she asked as she closed the book and a gave him a look of concern. Will stretched, "Oh yeah, just thinking about lunch," he answered with a slight grin.

It wasn't a total lie, he had been thinking about appeasing his hunger, but it was definitely not the only thing on his mind. Belle took out her phone from her bag and checked the time, "I guess I didn't realize how long we've been out here," she said, sounding surprised as she put the phone and book back in the bag.

She then gave Will a smile, "Would you like to go to Granny's to pick up something? I have to get back to the library" Will smiled back at her, she was such good company and easy to talk to.

They had only been dating for a couple of weeks, but every day with her seemed to get better than the last and he found himself enjoying it, but it also confused him. He loved the woman he left behind and there were moments he had this pull to go back to her, but then he would be spending time with Belle and realize how good she was to him and how she made him smile. In truth, he didn't feel his love for Belle ran as deep as his love for Anastasia, how could it after everything he went through with Ana, but even he had to admit staying in Storybrooke with Belle was a nice escape from castle life.

So Will nodded in agreement to another peaceful lunch with the brunette and stood, extending a hand to help his girlfriend up. Belle smiled and took his hand and the pair headed to the diner.

Across town there was an explosion in the ground, forming a hole and the white rabbit climbed out onto firm ground. He dusted his jacket off as Ana followed him out of the hole. Percy looked up to find that they were on the road partially and a car was heading their way. "Get out of the way!" he instructed Ana urgently as he hurried into the alley nearby. Ana barely had time to follow him out of the way into the alley before the car had to swerve to miss the giant hole in the road. The rabbit and queen watched the car drive away.

Ana then looked at Percy, trying to catch her breath, "What was that?" she asked with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "It's called a car, this realm's horse and carriage and you're best to stay out of the road," he answered then looked her over, "You're going to stand out in that outfit, you may want to get into something less noticeable."

Ana looked down at her fancy dress and jewelry before raising an eyebrow at him, "And people here are used to a talking rabbit?" Percy didn't answer at first, she had a good point, "Well no, but we may not want to stand out too much."

Ana rolled her eyes and went over to peek around the building to catch a glimpse of the people walking around outside. She raised an eyebrow at their odd clothing before moving back to where Percy waited. She waved her hand and her dress, heels and jewels were replaced with a pastel pink fuzzy sweater, dark blue jeans, black boots and an off-white scarf.

She looked down at the odd outfit and scrunched up her nose some at the pants and lack of corset. "Women here really wear things like this?" she asked, confused. "Yes, you'll get used to it," the rabbit answered, "Now shall we get going?" "Do you know where Will could be?" Ana asked, deciding to ignore his impatient tone.

The rabbit looked down in thought, "When I came here to get him to save Alice he was in the diner.." at her confused look he explained, "a diner is a place people gather to eat and drink." Ana nodded in understanding, sounded like the perfect place for Will.

Will held the door open for Belle as they made it to Granny's diner. He smiled as she walked in then followed her. Normally others in the diner didn't pay them any mind but today there was a girl, who appeared to be in her early 20s, watching them from a booth near the back.

She had dark hair that reached her shoulder blades. She also wore a simple long sleeved white baggy shirt with the letters NY and a picture of the Statue of Liberty underneath, along with light blue jeans that had holes in the knees and basic tennis shoes. She narrowed her smokey blue eyes as she watched the couple, fidgeting with a bracelet she wore. It had a leather strap woven in and out of red and white wooden block beads that circled around her wrist and met at a small, working hourglass turned on its side in the middle.

She kept her eyes on Will and Belle as they got food to go, her own drink and fries already finished. "Here's your tab, you sure that'll be all?" she heard Granny ask and block her view of the two as she walked up to the table. The girl looked up at the older woman and nodded silently. She got out a small change purse from her pocket and looked inside to realize she didn't even have enough money for those two items.

Granny moved to lean against the back of the booth in a casual conversation way as she looked at the girl, "So you're not from around here are you?" The girl wasn't paying attention as she looked back at the checkout counter where a tip was being left on it by Will and Belle and Belle was trying to stop Will from sneaking the money back into his pocket by pulling him along with, her with a laugh, out of the diner.

The girl looked back at the money left and underneath the table she held the palm of one hand out and waved the other hand over it so that the money magically appeared in her hand. She quickly stuffed it in the purse before bringing it up above the table and pulling it out along with what she already had and placed it on the table.

"Keep the change," the young woman said as she stood and headed for the door, leaving a confused granny to watch her leave without having her question answered.

The girl walked down the street after having left the diner, looking down at her bracelet which she started messing with again. It didn't take long before she bumped into someone who was also distracted.

"Sorry, I.." the girl started to apologize but went quiet when she looked up at the other person. It was a woman who looked to be about her age but a little older with a talking rabbit traveling beside. Ana had been looking down at the rabbit when she felt the girl walk into her.

"You should be careful," Ana told the girl, but her tone wasn't angry. In fact, it sounded as if she was just trying to give her advice, but perhaps with an impatient undertone.

The girl didn't reply at first, she was still staring at Ana as if she saw a ghost. Finally she shook her head, "Right," she said quietly.

"My name's Anastasia," the blonde spoke again, "and I'm looking for someone named Will Scarlet. Do you know where I can find him?" The girl looked Ana over, pausing briefly on her stomach before looking back at her face, "No. Sorry, I can't help you," the girl replied before walking past Ana and continuing on her way.

Ana turned to watch her walk away with a confused frown, "and I didn't catch your name." The girl looked back at her but kept waking, "That's because I didn't give you one," she called back before smirking slightly, "good luck finding your Will Scarlet," and with that she was on her way.

The rabbit tilted his head as they watched the girl leave, "Well someone wasn't taught manners," he said before looking up at Ana, but she didn't seem to have heard him as she stared after the peculiar girl.


End file.
